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Kunal
Kunal
Born	Kunal Singh; 29 September 1976; Haryana, India
Died	7 February 2008 (aged 31); Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1999–2008
Organization	Balagiri (Film production company)

Kunal Singh (29 September 1976 – 7 February 2008), known professionally as Kunal, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He is best known for his romantic role in Kathir's Kadhalar Dhinam (1999), which is Kunal's debut film.

Career

Kunal was born on 29 September 1976 in Haryana, India. He was introduced in Kathir's 1999 romantic Tamil film Kadhalar Dhinam, alongside Sonali Bendre, a popular Bollywood actress that time. Kunal played a young student who falls in love with Bendre's character over the internet. Due to Bendre's popularity in north India, the film was partially reshot and dubbed into Hindi as Dil Hi Dil Mein.

After the relative success of Kadhalar Dhinam, Kunal appeared in a series of successful Tamil films like Paarvai Ondre Pothume (2001) and Punnagai Desam (2002), the latter being his first multi-starrer film.

After co-starring with Manoj K. Bharathi in Varushamellam Vasantham (2002), Kunal then appeared in many flops like Pesadha Kannum Pesume, Enge Enadhu Kavithai and Unarchigal. Several of his later films were started and then shelved, like Nava's Nilavinilae opposite Vijayalakshmi, Kimu Kipi opposite Susan, and Rithik's Kadhalithal Anandam, which would have featured him alongside Livingston and Kausalya.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] Moreover, two films which he had signed opposite actress Sherin Shringar, Jai Adithya's Kadhal Thiruda and Nanda's Thodu, were shot and unreleased.^[5]

When he was unable to find roles as an actor, he served as assistant editor for several films and turned to producing.^[6] Kunal's last Tamil film was Nanbanin Kadhali, which released in 2007.

Death

On 7 February 2008, Kunal was found hanging from the ceiling in his Mumbai apartment. The apparent suicide was challenged by his father Rajendra Singh who claimed that the body showed signs of suspicious bruising. Actress Lavina Bhatia was detained by police in connection with his death, but she was later released after the police could not prove a motive. The police were unable to prove that anyone was present in Kunal's apartment at the time of his death and ruled out Bhatia as a suspect;^[7] furthermore, Kunal had attempted suicide by slashing his wrists several months earlier. At the time of his death, Kunal was working on a Hindi film, Yogi, which was being produced by his newly formed production company Balagiri.^[8]^[9] The case was referred to CBI and Prof T D Dogra of All India Institute of Medical Sciences. He examined the scene of crime along with CBI and opined in favor of suicide.^[10]

Filmography

All films are in Tamil, unless otherwise noted.

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1999	Kadhalar Dhinam	Raja
2000	Dil Hi Dil Mein	Raja	Hindi film; partially reshot version of Kadhalar Dhinam
2001	Paarvai Ondre Pothume	Vinodh
2002	Punnagai Desam	Raja
	Varushamellam Vasantham	Ramesh
	Pesadha Kannum Pesume	Vikram
	Enge Enadhu Kavithai	Babu
	Arputham	Arvind
2004	Super Da	Rahul
2005	Devathaiyai Kanden	Bala
	Pesuvoma	Elango
	Thirudiya Idhayathai	Ganesh
	Saadhuriyan	Ganesh
	Sorry Enaku Kalyanamayidichu	Vijay
2006	Unarchigal	Lakshmi's husband
2007	Nanbanin Kadhali	Surya

References

^ "New Tamil films in the making". chennaionline.com. Archived from the original on 31 July 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
^ "Dinakaran". Archived from the original on 18 November 2004.
^ "Behindwoods : Kunal is back". Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
^ "Kunal as Krishnamoorthy!". Archived from the original on 16 March 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
^ "Behindwoods : Kadal thiruda with Gunal - Sherin". Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
^ Renni Abraham (8 February 2008). "I saw actor Kunal Singh hanging, says friend". Daily News & Analysis. Archived from the original on 26 August 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
^ "Court orders CBI probe into actor's murder". The Times of India. 18 December 2009. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
^ Jaidev Hemmady (8 December 2009). "Plot thickens in Bollywood murder mystery". Indian Express. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
^ "Actor found dead in Lokhandwala flat". Indian Express. 8 February 2008. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
^ "Bombay High Court, Ms.Lovina Pankaj Bhatia vs Central Bureau Of Investigation on 12 August, 2011". Bombay High Court. 12 August 2011. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2014.